Preludes to War (Eve of Redemption Book 6)

by Joe Jackson

  “Well, who knows, then? Maybe I’m pregnant,” Kari said with a shake of her head.

  “Perhaps so.”

  She regarded Seanada, but the assassin didn’t look back at her. Soon enough, Kari’s attention was drawn to the crowds, where some boisterous shouting had broken out. It was unfolding just as Kari had hoped: the beshathans were accusing the syrinthians of being spies and oppressors for King Sekassus. The syrinthians, in return, were accusing the beshathans of being conspirators if they were so worried about the king’s watchfulness.

  “What did you say to them?” Kari asked.

  “I simply spread the idea that the syrinthians were content with the firm hand of their king because they did not want some beshathan ruling them. A few choice words about the prophecy not including them, Be’shatha not being their true goddess…it was not difficult to rile the spirits of these angry people.”

  A brawl nearly erupted before them, and Kari smiled. “I guess not.”

  The door of the inn opened, and the crowd settled down quickly, though tempers were still flared. The creature that stepped forth from the porch was no doubt another of Sekassus’ sons – at least by appearance. He had the same body styling and coloration as Amnastru, though he was certainly not the king’s crown prince. This one had tattoos all down his bare arms, angry-looking black and red designs etched and inked into his scaled flesh. Kari didn’t know exactly what they said or did, but she imagined they were some arcane protection.

  Of greater interest to her were the two male syrinthians that trailed behind him. Where those who traveled with the other princes looked to be retainers rather than guards, these were protectors, and obviously so. Their heads swiveled back and forth, reptilian eyes narrowed as they took in the crowd about them, particularly those close to the apparent prince. One of these, Kari mused, had to be the actual prince in disguise, if the blind woman was correct. It then occurred to Kari that the other could very well be The Vandrasse.

  Well, this would be an ugly situation to jump into, Kari thought. She nudged Seanada and gestured toward the prince and guards with her head, but the assassin merely shrugged.

  The prince began berating the crowd, and Kari silently cursed at his use of syrinthian. Yet another language I need to learn, she thought. She paid close attention to the reactions of the people, and could see two things: the prince lacked confidence, and the people neither missed it nor cared much for what he was saying. One of the prince’s guards grew agitated, and Kari figured she now knew which one was the real prince. The question remained whether the other was The Vandrasse, though the thought of the fake prince still being a capable fighter or even wizard was concerning.

  “Are you prepared in case that other guard is your mother? Or that she might be in the area somewhere?” Kari whispered.

  “One of the guards is our prince, I am certain. The other does not appear to be my mother. If she is close by, I cannot sense her presence.”

  “Can you throw your voice with your arcane power?”

  Seanada regarded her. “Are you thinking what I suspect?” she returned, and when Kari nodded, she cracked a smile and moved somewhere out of sight.

  “Epaxa chi’pri! Arise my brothers and sisters!” came a shout from the other end of the central square, and the entirety of the populace turned in that direction.

  No one was sure who had yelled, and they were looking around, clearly expecting to find the white coat of a vulkinastra among them. Kari didn’t see who threw the first punch, but that hardly mattered as a riot quickly broke out. Fists flew, mostly aimed at the syrinthians in the area, and the false prince and his guards looked suddenly alarmed to be in the center of such a sea of chaos. The real prince, disguised as one of the guards, ran back up a few steps of the porch, his serpentine eyes scanning the crowd, and Kari made her move.

  She strode confidently toward the steps up to the inn’s porch and then willed the goggles to cease masking her presence. “Looking for me, Your Highness?”

  The guard backed up another step, and Kari realized her error. The more obvious target was the decoy, of course. She turned just in time to spin with a punch that connected with the end of her snout. She staggered back a couple of steps but pulled forth her waushims as she did. Now there were two of the cobra-men before her, and Kari couldn’t tell at first glance which was which. How did they manage to get their belongings to change shape with them? Kari wished she had the same luxury when Diszaro had transfigured her.

  The others in the central square suddenly became aware that there was a vulkinastra among them. They started to move toward the princes, but the inn suddenly exploded, leveling every man, woman, and child in the area.

  Kari came to her senses lying face-down in the gutter at the edge of the square. She couldn’t hear a thing, but her ears were causing her excruciating pain that only barely managed to outdo the rest of her body. This was far worse than the explosion in Haestronn: Kari’s body was shredded around the protection of the armor, her vision was hazy from the heat and dust blown into her eyes, her hearing was gone for the time being, and something wasn’t right with her head. Had she hit the wall before landing on the ground? She felt sick to her stomach as soon as she tried to move, and wondered if she had a concussion.

  A foot kicked Kari in the ribs, and she bit down the nausea enough to turn her head and look up into the eyes of The Vandrasse. Can’t hear me? I thought not. Listen well, little mortal: you are about to be delivered to King Sekassus. If you thought what he had in store for you was terrifying, know this: I will be drinking your life-force little by little in between his tortures. When you finally expire, your soul will be so riddled with pain, you will not–

  “Witch! You killed my son!”

  Kari realized her ears were already healing, and she blinked in surprise when a furry fist slammed across The Vandrasse’s jaw. The succubus swooned and stumbled sideways. Kari was suddenly not so thankful to have her hearing back as the chorus of agony and anger that was the city’s central square washed over her. Even through her hazy vision, she could see blood and torn bodies everywhere. The Vandrasse had given no thought to whom she harmed with her overpowering display of arcane prowess. Though Kari could see the prince – only the real one, apparently – stood unharmed, the rest of the people were either injured or dead, women and children included.

  It’s a wonder Sekassus uses her; she has no self-control whatsoever, Kari thought.

  The mallasti male who’d struck The Vandrasse was lifted aloft by an unseen force which then casually threw him back among the writhing masses. The succubus approached Kari again, but this time she was intercepted by the bloody but upright form of Seanada. Even disguised as a mallasti, there was no mistaking the fury in the assassin’s eyes as she faced her mother. Kari trusted her companion would buy her some time, and she began to drag herself out of the gutter.

  Hands took hold under her arms and carried her away. With their help, Kari got her legs back under her, though her brain was threatening to shut down and put her to sleep. She shook her head to try to clear the cobwebs, and came to a few moments later looking up at the sky. She had nothing left in her stomach, but her body didn’t seem to care as she retched several times in rapid succession. She healed fast, but how quickly would a concussion heal? Could she recover at least enough to aid her companion and do what they had come for?

  She was surprised when a syrinthian face leaned over her upside down, and her vision swam as her injured brain tried to recognize what she was looking at. It was a female, and she put her softly-scaled hands to the sides of Kari’s head. She began whispering in the sibilant tongue of her people, and Kari saw that a couple of mallasti were watching her closely.

  “Epaxa chi’pri,” Kari tried to say. Were the words coming out right? Was she even truly awake, or dreaming this? She wasn’t sure, but she figured she had little to lose. “Rise up with your beshathan brothers and sisters. Take a stand against Sekassus now, for there will be no further chan
ces.”

  “She is in terrible condition,” one of the mallasti said.

  “She is,” agreed the syrinthian woman. “But she…oh my.”

  Kari sat up. There was still a twinge of nausea in the back of her throat, but whatever the syrinthian woman did, her mind was clear. She was battered, bloody, her ivory coat streaked with so much red that most probably wouldn’t know she was vulkinastra at first glance. Kari got to her feet with help from two mallasti males, and looked over the scene of carnage. As angry as the people were, they had been humbled en masse by The Vandrasse, without the prince even having to lift a finger. And now he stood defiantly before all of them, shouting some spiel about his father’s power and their ingratitude.

  Seanada was still facing her mother, but their duel was one of arcane power, not a contest of steel that would favor the assassin. Kari had to trust that Seanada could do as she promised, and the demonhunter pulled forth her waushims as she prepared to approach the prince. This was one of the stronger ones, from the brief descriptions Seanada had given, and Kari was already hurt and weak. She might heal fast, but fatigue had settled in after the mix of adrenaline and the concussion, and she wasn’t sure that would fade until she calmed down and perhaps had something to eat.

  Neither of which was going to happen any time soon.

  “Where is your brother?” Kari asked, approaching the prince. “I have little time to waste on the likes of you. Oh, don’t look so smug. I may be in rough shape, but you and your pet demon just made several thousand enemies. If you think I’ll be fighting you alone, you’re sorely mistaken.”

  “Here I thought this trap was too obvious, and yet you walked directly into it anyway,” the prince replied. “Don’t be a fool. These people will not attack their prince, not when Prince Amnastru is but a short distance away and my father’s rage is at a boil. You have made great gains, little woman, I will grant you that, but you have barely made a dent in my father’s armor. Surrender to me, and I may do you the favor of accidentally killing you before delivering you to my father.”

  He turned to the citizens still accounting for their dead and licking their wounds, either figuratively or literally. “Well? What will it be?” he asked them. “Stand with her and earn my father’s wrath, or stand with me and earn his favor.”

  Kari was about to counter with a mention of Be’shatha, but she felt that warning cold, felt the bite of a demon’s presence irritate that preternatural sense of smell and taste she had. If she wanted to rally these people, she had to do so in a way that wouldn’t provoke the Overking to kill Mastriana when the plan came to fruition. She glanced once at Seanada and The Vandrasse fighting, no one daring to get too close to that arcane duel, and a ploy came to mind.

  Kari laughed. “Your father’s favor? He sends his personal harlot–” She noted that these people also cringed when she used that word. “–to capture me, and she kills his people without half a moment’s thought, and you speak of his favor? If this is your father’s favor, I ask: what do these people have to lose?”

  The demonhunter lifted one of her waushims and imagined easily deflecting the bolt of lightning that came her way. The Vandrasse had lashed out at her, but Kari’s shield of faith turned it upwards harmlessly, keeping it away from the non-mallasti in the area as well. With a snort of derision, she turned back toward the prince. “Please tell me she’s not your mother.”

  “Thankfully not,” he answered dryly.

  The Vandrasse backed away from Seanada and scowled at the prince. It was just the sort of opportunity Kari was hoping for, and she reached back into her mind and took hold of that little voice. Call him a kaeshmor, she thought, projecting it toward The Vandrasse. She wasn’t sure how strong the succubus’ willpower was; she assumed considerable, but with her hackles raised and her defenses down, maybe Kari could break through.

  “Insolent wretch!” the demoness spat. “As if I would birth a kaeshmor such as you!”

  Kari had to resist the urge to laugh. Whoever said anger makes you dumb wasn’t wrong, she thought. What made holding her laughter easier was the reaction of the people. The prince was slack-jawed, but his wasn’t the only scowl that fell upon the succubus. Whatever the word meant, it was extremely offensive to the beshathans, and even the syrinthians who could speak their sister tongue were incensed by its utterance. Apparently, it was not so funny an insult as the harmauths or even King Morduri had made it out to be.

  “Father will hear of this,” was all the prince said when he finally found his voice, and he folded his hands behind his back.

  “Father? Are you going to let her get away with speaking to you like that?” Kari goaded him. Whoever this prince was, he was far too calm for Kari’s liking.

  The prince turned to Kari, his eyes narrowed. “How big a fool do you take me for?”

  “Considering you have me on one side of you and her on the other, I’d say pretty big.”

  “Did you think you would so easily turn us on each other?”

  “I wasn’t talking about The Vandrasse,” Kari said. “I was talking about her.”

  Seanada struck at the prince’s back, and The Vandrasse did nothing to stop her or alert her monarch’s child. Kari nearly spit when the prince easily sidestepped Seanada’s attack, and he tread cautiously up the steps before the destroyed inn. Just as Sonja was known for, he called forth one of the dual-ended weapons his family apparently favored as much as the sylinths in general. He tapped one end of the weapon on the floorboards of the porch, and stood defiantly before the two women.

  “You are quite resourceful, I will give you that, but did you honestly think you would just slip into the city and kill me the way you did my brothers? If it were not for this…harlot as you so aptly call her, this situation would have been resolved already. My offer still stands. Your friend is of no concern to me, and if you surrender yourself, she may go free. You, on the other hand, will die, but mercifully at my hands, rather than my father’s.”

  The Vandrasse was furious, but the prince assuming authority had brought her temper under control to some degree.

  “Did you hear that?” Kari asked, turning slightly to look over the cowering people behind her. “He’s not going to help her. Tear her apart.”

  The succubus was suddenly aware of the hundreds of furious stares turned her way. She backed up a few steps, then disappeared with a rush of wind and a pop in a sorcerous display. The prince, to his credit, simply snorted and shook his head. When he turned back to Kari, he took stock of the angry people. “Do you people not understand? This woman will lead you only to your destruction! My eldest brother stands ready to the east of you in Yugava, with one of my father’s legions with him. The gains this vulkinastra has made are paltry. She has rallied what, a few hundred to her side? Convince her to surrender herself to me; it is what is best for all of you – that one life be sacrificed for the many.”

  “One life?” Kari said, spinning a slow circle to look over The Vandrasse’s carnage. “I see a lot more than one life taken or mangled here, Your Highness. And while you may have the backing of your brother in Yugava, I have the backing of someone greater.”

  “Such as who? King Emanitar?” the prince laughed.

  “Exactly.” She was met with utter silence. For a moment, she thought perhaps the prince knew of Emanitar’s invasion, and that they had already planned for it. The look on his face now, though, was terror mitigated only by the suspicion that Kari might be bluffing. “We are far from alone in this, Your Highness. But I’ll tell you what: since you made me such a gracious offer, I’ll return the favor. You surrender yourself to me, and I’ll convince these people not to rip you limb from limb.”

  “Unlikely!” shouted one of the angry mallasti parents with injured children.

  Kari didn’t get the chance to say another word. The people stormed the porch of the destroyed inn. A few fell to the prince’s blade, but when others began bringing their sorcerous power to bear, they used the remnants of the buildi
ng and other bits of debris to slow and pen him in. In a desperate bid, he turned his blade sideways and bull rushed his way through much of the throng, but he soon came to Kari and Seanada, four blades ready for him, with a mass of angry citizens at his back.

  The prince sidestepped around them, putting his back to a wall, nowhere left to run. As Kari expected, he lifted a hand aloft and called out to his father, invoking the strength of the realm to defend its prince. The townsfolk kept their distance now, their confidence shattered by the prince’s sudden display. To Kari’s surprise, the prince continued to talk. “I didn’t come here to harm you, but if one more person raises their hand to me, I will call down the wrath of my father upon all of you. You are angry at what The Vandrasse did to your children? That will be as nothing compared to what my father will do!”

  Kari didn’t pursue, but rather put a hand to Seanada’s shoulder. When the assassin looked at her, Kari held a finger up. “Any second now,” she said.

  “What are you expecting?” Seanada asked.

  “Your mother.”

  As one, the women turned around just as a rush of wind announced the return of The Vandrasse. Her eyes immediately went wide when she saw what she faced. Kari hit her with a high slash, and the succubus’ supernatural dexterity was all that kept her skull from being cleaved in two. She stumbled, her face gashed open brutally, marring her beauty. She tripped over the body of a child she had killed, and Seanada lunged forward and stabbed the fallen demoness right through the same spot Prince Fesarri had impaled the assassin.

  It was not so easy, though, to kill a “pure” demon. The Vandrasse channeled her arcane power again to teleport away. She couldn’t go very far, but free of Seanada’s impaling blade and the impending doom her daughter and Kari represented, she staggered to her feet.

  “Oh, I am through with toying with you,” she spat, blood trickling down her lip. “I will destroy this entire city if it rids my master of you and your pathetic lover!”